How often do you take a break when on a long journey.

[paulwirral]

Calais to Dordogne is 8 to 10 hours depending on which vehicle I take and I just get on with it and do it in one hit stopping once for fuel , and I do that after a 4 to 5 hour drive to the channel tunnel , rest on the crossing for half an hour . Nearly always travel alone and overnight or early start in England , through France in daylight , I've never seen a problem with doing it this way .

[Colonial]

Tend to go 4 hrs before a break.

Australian, so lots of long distance driving.

[WJNB]

NEVER more than 3 hours. You might THINK you are alert but it is rarely so. Pride, especially male pride can come before accident or incident.

[paulwirral]

WJNB said:

NEVER more than 3 hours. You might THINK you are alert but it is rarely so. Pride, especially male pride can come before accident or incident.

It's just like doing a long shift at work , however it's easy and the view constantly changes to keep it interesting , that's how I've always viewed it , Each to their own though , most people have to stop for fuel around the 5 hour mark anyway , quick stretch then get on with it .

[C. Grimsley]

Surprised at some of the comments (thought people would travel a lot further), I did Poland last week in one hit, left my house at 4am and arrived at my destination at 10pm that night, I did stop for fuel and pee breaks (and the train) but other than that just literally got on with it. (1300 miles)

Carl

[craigjm]

WJNB said:

NEVER more than 3 hours. You might THINK you are alert but it is rarely so. Pride, especially male pride can come before accident or incident.

Agree with this

[SmilerFTM]

I usually need a pee long before I feel tired, this frequency increases when I just want to get on with the drive or when stuck in a jam.

[caelite]

Done Glasgow to London in a one-ey. 8 hours sitting at 60mph in my pals rickety old LDV. We where supposed to split the drive but he broke his leg the week before we where driving down. ALMOST made it all the way, had too pull off the M40 at about Oxford for fuel. Then took a 4 hour break with a nap in London and drove back up to Glasgow in the now, fully laden, rickety old LDV. Took a couple of coffee breaks on the way back though. Couldnt think straight by the end of it.

[LaneDiesel]

We are doing a 300 mile trip to Ballater in Scotland at the weekend and looking at stopping half way on the 5 hour trip.

[talksthetorque]

Regularly did Bournemouth to Livingston and back Monday and Friday.
Sometimes stopped 3 -4 times, once did it without a stop at all.
Be aware of your alertness and body and stop accordingly.

[cmaguire]

I guess many on here don't regard toilet breaks as stopping, or maybe just pretend they are back in the swimming pool at school and just pi@s themselves.

[talksthetorque]

cmaguire said:

I guess many on here don't regard toilet breaks as stopping, or maybe just pretend they are back in the swimming pool at school and just pi@s themselves.

I included that.
If you don't stop for a drink, you don't need a waz.
Was definitely ready for a wee when I got home after doing it in one hit.
I thought I might stop at Chieveley, but was overtaing a slow lorry I'd been stuck behind for a while, so just ploughed on.

[TR4man]

Just be careful when stopping at services for a snooze that you don't get a fixed penalty notice for overstaying your two hours.

[NormalWisdom]

Hmmmmm - I worked in Munich a couple of years back for 18 months - Took my (then) car over (my00 WRX wagon). Had to do 5 return trips (service, MoT, Hernia Op and winter wheels on/off). It was 675 miles door-to-door (Reading to Holzkirchen). It was a 13-hour drive. Left home 6am arrived flat at 8pm local. Stopped for 45 minutes or so for the Tunnel and twice for Pee/Petrol (Liege & Nuremburg).

I guess the return after the hernia Op was a little too soon after the slice as the wound leaked a lot en-route

Possibly should have stopped more often being the "other side" of 50 but I just loved doing it, every trip was an adventure!

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

WJNB said:

NEVER more than 3 hours. You might THINK you are alert but it is rarely so. Pride, especially male pride can come before accident or incident.

I would suggest this is false, because HGV and coach driver regularly do 4.5 hours straight, have 45 minutes break and then do another 4.5 hours.

[qska]

So - we're doing Poland this weekend.

Stopping in Bielefeld for the night, nice 500 mile day 1 and 500 miles on day 2.

Kids and a dog... Luckily we got something soothing for the dog.

What's the concensus then to keep concentration up - coffee or red bull?

Sugar or no sugar...?

We'll have plenty of stops otherwise for the little feet and bladders

The dog is a squeaky little Chihuahua cross, very whiney on longer journeys.

[tektas]

qska said:

So - we're doing Poland this weekend.

Stopping in Bielefeld for the night, nice 500 mile day 1 and 500 miles on day 2.

Kids and a dog... Luckily we got something soothing for the dog.

What's the concensus then to keep concentration up - coffee or red bull?

Sugar or no sugar...?

We'll have plenty of stops otherwise for the little feet and bladders

The dog is a squeaky little Chihuahua cross, very whiney on longer journeys.

neither coffee nor Red Bull will help you. If you are tired there is nothing you can do about that. Coffee or Red Bull will give you a short but swift "kick" but after that subsides you will be way more tired and unfocused than before.

[techguyone]

Chainsaw Rebuild said:

WJNB said:

NEVER more than 3 hours. You might THINK you are alert but it is rarely so. Pride, especially male pride can come before accident or incident.

I would suggest this is false, because HGV and coach driver regularly do 4.5 hours straight, have 45 minutes break and then do another 4.5 hours.

I'd agree with that, I've found if you do driving for a living you do adapt and it's not like if you only occasionally do longer distances.

In unrelated news, now I have a car with cruise, the foot/leg soreness problem is no longer an issue.

[jonvw84]

Back when I was plating, I did the Scotland runs in one hit (from Birmingham and mostly to Paisley with K2K to come back in) and was fine but always had energy drink for the early start up there and then another can of energy drink plus sandwich and sweets for the return leg

Somewhere in the region of 4-6 hours continuous driving and all in cars that had rubbish cruise control or none at all, worse I had was foot ache from being on the gas pedal

[Manners2001]

Whenever I need a pee to be honest. My longest non-stop trip was 4.5hrs to the Lizard in Cornwall, although by the end I thought I was going to burst. I was still alert by the end of it - I was well rested and had left at 3am so was cruising down empty motorways and it was actually a pleasure to drive 'properly'. Far easier to do something well if you are enjoying it!